


Good Vibrations

by Phandabbydosey



Series: Deaf Dan Oneshots [6]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Deaf, Deaf Character, Disability, Disabled Character, Fluff, M/M, Only a small one though, deaf!dan, pastel!dan, punk!phil
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-17
Packaged: 2018-09-18 05:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9370025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phandabbydosey/pseuds/Phandabbydosey
Summary: Phil’s band gets a shot at impressing a talent scout, but their drummer drops out just three days before the big gig. Their only shot at a replacement comes in the form of the lead singer’s younger brother, the lead singer’s deaf brother with a fondness for soft pastel colours.





	

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is phandabbydosey if you'd rather read it over there :D
> 
> Beta-ed by the lovely gatsbys-old-sport over on tumblr

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Phil looked up from where he was sitting tuning his guitar when Oliver’s exasperated voice met his ears. “What’s up?” he asked with a slight frown on his face as he watched Oliver angrily shove his phone back into his pocket.

“Leon’s cancelled, his mum caught him smoking weed so now he’s grounded,” Oliver explained, his mouth set in an annoyed line, “She won’t let him out to do the show so now we have no drummer.”

“What?” Phil gasped, eyes wide as he placed his guitar down on the floor beside him before getting to his feet.

Harvey - the band’s lead singer - groaned loudly, running his hands down his face in exasperation, “We can’t do a show with no drummer.”

“I know that, Harvey,” Oliver almost growled, shoulders tense, “And I also know that we can’t cancel the show. Do either of you know _anyone_ who can drum well enough to step in?”

Phil thought deeply but came up blank; Leon was the only person he knew who could play drums at all. His gaze flicked between the other two band members, hoping one of them would think of something. Their band had been gathering quite a bit of popularity in their local area and they’d managed to get an hour long set in one of the city’s most popular clubs. They weren’t sure, but there were rumours that a talent scout from a major record label was going to be in the audience. They couldn’t miss this opportunity, but they couldn’t go up on stage without a drummer and they only had four days to find a replacement.

“I know someone,” Harvey said quietly, Phil not understanding the slight hesitation in the brunette’s voice, “My brother plays drums.”

“Harvey, mate, I appreciate the attempt but this isn’t the time for jokes,” Oliver snapped. They’d never actually met him, but the boy’s were all aware of Harvey’s brother. Harvey’s sixteen year old, deaf brother.

“No, he can actually play really well,” Harvey insisted, ignoring Oliver’s contemptful glare and instead focusing on Phil. Phil was the level headed one of the group, after all, “He can…feel the music and has learnt how to play with the beat and-it’s really hard to explain but he’d good, I promise.”

Harvey looked serious and, while he was still doubtful, Phil shrugged and nodded. “We’ve not got any better any ideas. Go through the set with him or something then bring him along tomorrow and he can have a go at playing with us.”

Harvey nodded and, after they all bid each other farewell, the band parted ways for the night. Phil wasn’t sure what would happen when Harvey’s brother came along, but he let a tentative flicker of hope spark up in his chest.

——————————–

The next evening, Phil and Oliver were getting all the instruments set up while they waited for Harvey and his brother. Since he was the only one with a garage that wasn’t connected to the house, they always rehearsed at Oliver’s for the sake of their families’ sanity.

“This is the dumbest idea he’s ever had,” Oliver grunted as he set up the amplifier for his bass guitar, “I know Harvey isn’t the brightest spark, but does he seriously think his deaf brother will be able to play drums for us, on stage, in three days time.”

“Well, there’s quite a few covers in our set, so he might know how to play them already, and neither of us have actually heard him play,” Phil shrugged, leaning against the microphone stand he’d just moved into place, “Harvey’s the only one of us who has, maybe he actually is really good. Beethoven was deaf and he’s one of the most famous pianist ever.”

“I highly doubt this guy is the Beethoven of the percussion world,” Oliver muttered with a roll of his eyes and Phil decided to tune out his grumbling after that.

It was less than ten minutes later that there was a bang on the garage door - making both Phil and Oliver jump - before it scraped open noisily and Harvey’s smiling face appeared. Phil absentmindedly said hello, his attention captured by the boy still hanging back in the doorway.

He was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. Fluffy brunette hair that swept across his tanned forehead above big, almost doe like eyes that were the deepest shade of brown Phil had ever seen. He was a little lanky but pulled it off better than most people his age and a lilac jumper clung to his skinny torso in an incredibly flattering way. The clear hearing aids that snaked around his pierced ears were the last thing Phil noticed.

“So, this is Dan,” Harvey said with a grin, not caring about the skepticism that was clear in Oliver’s eyes. He beckoned his brother into the garage, creating shapes with his hands while he spoke which Dan watched intently. They all knew that Harvey was fluent in sign language, but it was a little strange to actually see it in practise, “Dan, this is Phil and Oliver.”

Dan slowly walked into the garage, starting to nervously chew onto his jumper sleeve as he waved shyly towards the boys. Phil’s doubt was starting to grow, Dan really didn’t look like he would be capable of playing drums for an hour in front of a crowd of people. He was wearing a pastel jumper and a flower crown, for christ’s sake.

“We may as well get this over with,” Oliver said, getting to his feet  as his eyes traced up and down Dan. They lingering noticeably on Dan’s hearing aids, causing the boy to self consciously shift his hair to cover them, “Have you gone through the songs with him?”

“Yeah, we were up late last night practising. He’s got the first two songs of the set down and a good idea of what happens in the others,” Harvey looked excited as he spoke, signing so Dan could understand what he was saying, “We’ll work on it though, he’ll be ready for the gig.”

Oliver just nodded and went to pick up his bass, Harvey pointing Dan to the drum kit and watching him as he settled down on the stool. “You sure about this?” Phil whispered to Harvey, though he quickly realised there was no reason to be hushed around Dan. His brow furrowed a little when he saw Dan tip one of the speakers over, making it lay face down on the floor.

“Just watch and see, let’s do ‘I Don’t Care’ first,” Harvey smirked confidently, taking his place at the mic stand and turning to Dan. He quickly signed out to Dan what song they were playing then counted them in.

Phil’s apprehensive breath was completely unneeded because the small garage was suddenly filled with the familiar, rhythmic intro of Fall Out Boy’s song. Phil exchange a quick, shocked look with Oliver before starting to play, both of them a little thrown by just how good Dan was. Phil didn’t miss the smug smirk on Harvey’s face as he began to sing, he was always a bit of a bastard when he was proved right.

Phil’s eyes wandered over to Dan as his fingers found the familiar notes on the guitar, Harvey’s smooth singing voice surrounding them all. Dan had his eyes almost closed, just open enough to see where the drums were but keeping everything else out. He’d also taken off his shoes, the foot that wasn’t on the bass drum pedal pressed flat against the floor. Phil held in a chuckle at the boy’s brightly coloured, mismatched socks.

The song soon came to an end and Phil turned to Dan, giving him and thumbs up, “That was amazin-Shit, sorry!” Phil quickly covered his mouth and gasped, internally screaming at himself for being so stupid.

“Phil, relax man,” Harvey laughed, making Phil’s brows furrow in confusion. Surely Harvey should be annoyed with him, he’d just spoken out loud to his deaf brother. He’d probably made Dan feel stupid and uncomfortable and why would he want to play drums for someone who’d made him feel like that. Harvey recognised the look that crossed Phil’s face as he overthought the situation and rolled his eyes, quickly signing something to Dan who nodded and got to his feet.

“D-Don’t worry, you don’t need to say sorry,” Oliver gasped and Phil’s eyes widened as Dan spoke. His words were a little clunky and loose, some of the sounds missing inflections, but he was still easily understandable, “I can lip read, I know what you’re saying so long as I’m looking at you and you make your words clear.”

“Oh-I-Oh…” Phil stammered, his incoherent babble being cut over by Oliver’s blunt voice.

“If you can read lips and talk, how come Harvey used sign language with you earlier?”

“Sign language is easier for him,” Harvey answered after Dan sent him a look, trusting his brother to get the words right for him. Harvey kept his body angled so Dan could still see his lips while he had his attention on Phil and Oliver, “He’s had speech therapy and, because he went deaf when he was five, he already had an idea of how to speak pretty well. It’s not exactly hard for him, but it takes a lot more focus to read lips so sign is easier. And he’s a shy little shit so he lets people think he can’t speak.”

“Shut up, that’s a lie,” Dan sniggered, giving his brother a playful shove, “You’d want to avoid speaking too if you sounded like me.”

“I think you speak really well,” Phil piped up, blushing a little when Dan turned to face  him a couple of moments after Harvey had, a questioning look on his face, “I said, uh, that I think you speak really well.”

“Thank you,” Dan grinned widely, Harvey mirroring the expression and sending Phil a thankful look over Dan’s head.

“Alright, alright, enough with the sappy bullshit,” Oliver drawled, though even he had a slight quirk to the corners of his lips, “We’d better get practising if Dan’s going to be ready for the gig.”

————————————

“Say Dan, how do you actually play drums so well?” Phil asked on the friday night before the gig. Dan, Phil and Harvey were all walking back from Oliver’s after a late rehearsal together since they all lived on the same street.

Phil and Oliver were both getting better with communicating with Dan, quickly picking up on how to speak slowly and make their lip movements clear, though Harvey was always on hand to translate their words into sign language should Dan need it. It was clear that the two brother’s were close, Harvey seeming to know when Dan needed him as an interpreter before he even had to ask. Things were running pretty smoothly though and Dan had quickly picked up their songs; it looked like they were really going to be ready in time for the gig the next day.

Dan watched as Harry repeated Phil’s words in sign, it was a lot more difficult for him to focus on lip reading and walking at the same time, then was silent for a while. Phil worried that maybe his question had been offensive and was about to retract it and apologise profusely when Dan started to speak. “Well, my hearing aids mean I can kinda hear really loud noises if they’re pretty low frequency, so that helps a little. Mostly though, it’s really hard to explain because a hearing person can’t experience music like I do so they find it hard to understand.

“Okay, so sounds are vibrations yeah? Vibrations that your ears pick up and turn into something your brain can recognise,” Dan looked over at Phil to check he was following along, waiting for a nod before continuing, “So you ‘feel’ the music with your ears, I’ve learnt how to feel it in other ways.

“You feel it those way too, the way you can feel a bassline right in your chest, almost as if it’s your heartbeat, and the way music sometimes just sends a buzz through your veins. They’re not really tangible, but you feel them and you know it’s the music that makes you feel those things. It’s kind of like that for me, but, like, really really intense.

“I’m guessing you know all about the thing where losing a sense enhances all your other ones? I’m not distracted by listening to the music, all of my focus goes onto how it _feels_ ; feeling how the different notes and instruments send different sensations through different parts of my body, then learning how to understand that and pick up the rhythms and beats from all of it. I can hear things better when they’re lower frequency, party because that’s just how my hearing loss affects me but they also give me a … heavy thump in my chest. My mind finds it easier to fill in the blanks my ears don’t pick up. Higher frequencies are kind of more of a buzz. They’re - like - lighter feelings, so it’s harder to differentiate between them than the lower frequency sounds; which is why I can pick up playing drums much better than I could, say, playing piano. I’ve learnt how each of the different drums ‘sounds’ to me, then it was just a case of learning how to channel that into actually playing the songs.

“So yeah, a mixture of having things loud and low enough to hear and vibrate the floor around me - which is why I put the speakers face down on the floor - and learning how to hear music in my own way.”

Dan’s voice had been a lot more confident as he spoke this time. He wasn’t as shy as he had been when he first arrived, before he realised that Oliver wasn’t as rude as his blunt demeanor suggested and that Phil was just a giant softie, but Dan was still getting to know them and making his way out of his shell. Harvey had mentioned before how Dan didn’t have many friends, so it was reasonable that he was taking his time with opening up.

But hearing him speak so passionately about music, about his personal and unique experience with the medium, made something warm up in Phil’s chest. Dan wasn’t carefully thinking through every word he said to get the sounds as close to perfect as he could, he was just speaking from his heart about something that he cared about. Yes, it meant his words were a little harder to decipher, but Phil had quickly adapted to the way Dan said certain letters so it wasn’t difficult to know what he was saying. Harvey was smiling proudly as his brother spoke and Phil knew he was feeling similar emotions. Harvey just wanted his brother to be happy and that’s just what was happening.

“Sorry,” Dan muttered after letting his last sentence trail off into silence, his cheeks dusted with a slight crimson hue that was just discernible in the evening light, “I got a bit carried away there.”

“No, it’s fine,” Phil looked at Dan so the other boy could see his mouth moving, “It was really interesting actually, I never realised that it would work like that. I would’ve guessed it had just been the vibrations thing, but what you said makes a lot sense. You explained it really well.”

“Good, it’s really hard to put things into words sometimes,” Dan smiled, a dimple pressing deeply into his left cheek and making the word ‘adorable’ flash to the forefront Phil’s mind. He slowed down as they reached his and Harvey’s house, giving Phil a small wave as he said goodbye and headed down the path.

“Hey Phil, thanks for being so great with him,” Harvey placed a hand on Phil’s arm and smiled gratefully, “I know he’s only been around a couple days, but I can already see a difference. He’s a lot more…confident and comfortable with speaking and his drumming and-just thanks.”

“He’s a good kid and he can play amazingly well, there’s no reason for me to be anything but nice to him,” Phil shrugged.

“Still, he’s had to deal with some pretty shitty people and it means the world to him when people just accept him. So thanks, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

As Phil said goodbye and walked back to his own house, he found his thoughts consumed by the deaf boy with dimples and pastel jumpers.

——————————-

“You feeling alright?” Phil asked Dan quietly as they waited in the backstage area, Phil sitting atop a spare amp while Dan paced up and down nervously, twirling his drumsticks around between his slender fingers.

Sensing Phil had spoken, Dan looked up and saw the concern on the other boy’s face. He could easily tell what he’d asked when he looked that worried. “Just nervous,” Dan mumbled, stopping his pacing but continuing to twirl his sticks, “I’ve never played in front of people before and I’m scared I’ll mess up.”

“Dan, you won’t mess up,” Phil chuckled fondly, getting to his feet and placing a comforting hand on Dan’s arm. Even though he was going on stage as part of a punk band with piercings and tattoos and black clothes, Dan was sticking to his own style. His jumper had a swirling mixture of tie-dyed pastel colours, the silver studded collar of a white shirt peeking over the neckline, and a pair of spiked creepers protruded out from the bottom of his grey acid wash jeans. Oliver had made a light-hearted comment about ‘having a fucking marshmallow behind the drumkit’, but Phil loved the way Dan looked. The pastel colours contrasted beautifully with his tanned skin and made his eyes look incredibly deep and dark, “You’ve been practising non-stop and you know these songs almost perfectly. You’re going to rock.”

Dan giggled and shook his head as Phil made a ‘rock and roll’ gesture with his hand, “So hardcore.”

“Hey, you know me, bad to the bone,” Phil grinned, making Dan laugh even more. They both knew that, despite his slightly intimidating appearance of sleeve tattoos, stretched lobe piercings, snakebites and an eyebrow bar, Phil was a giant softie. He liked pokemon and lazy nights cuddling or watching films and had an extensive collection of graphic novels on his bedroom shelf, “Hey, you alright?”

Dan’s laughter had trailed off as he looked up into Phil’s eyes, his own taking on a slightly pensive look and his lip catching between his lips. Phil’s brow creased a little in confusion at the sudden mood change and the strange expression on Dan’s face. He looked … apprehensive.

“C-Can I do something?” Dan stammered, starting to twirl his drumsticks faster, “I won’t do it again if you don’t like it and I’ll leave and never speak to you again if you want me to-”

“Woah, Dan, what do you want to do?” Phil’s frown deepened as Dan spoke; what was he on about? “You can do whatever you want and, unless you murder me, I highly doubt it’ll make me never want to speak to you again.”

Dan nodded and took a deep breath, before tipping his head up and pressing his lips against Phil’s. He was cautious and his lips were a little tense, obviously nervous about how Phil would react.

There was no need to be nervous though, because Phil quickly melted into the kiss and began to reciprocate. They kept it short, sweet, but Dan’s smile was ecstatic after they pulled apart. “Well, that went better than expected,” he grinned, making Phil chuckle.

“You’re adorable. So,” Phil spoke slowly, once hand moving up to cup Dan’s cheek, his long fingers lightly brushing the plastic of Dan’s hearing aid, “Does that mean…Do you want to be, like, together?”

Still smiling widely, Dan pecked Phil’s lips and nodded, slipping a hand into Phil’s free one. Someone shouted that they had two minutes before going on stage, so Phil gave Dan’s hand a squeeze then pulled back, picking up his guitar.

“Let’s go rock.”

Dan shook his head at Phil’s cheesiness, but held onto his hand tightly and continued to smile as they stepped out into the bright lights of the stage, together.

 


End file.
